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The Environment Department of the Australian state of Queensland has granted its final approval for the Carmichael coal mine developed by Adani, approving the mine’s groundwater management plan. Adani will have to do further work to preserve the Doongmabulla Springs Complex but will be allowed to start preparatory activities before mining coal.

Adani has been struggling for a decade to secure approval for its Carmichael coal mine project in Queensland, which is estimated to hold 10 Gt of coal reserves. The project was first approved by a federal court in 2016 but was delayed in December 2017 after a series of legal challenges. The final investment decision (FID) was made in June 2017 and Adani plans to invest AUD16.5bn (US$11.4bn) in the project. It received Commonwealth approval from the federal government of Australia in April 2019 and the Queensland Environment Department approved its management plans for an endangered bird. The project is expected to reach a production level of 25 Mt/year in 2020-2021 and to gradually ramp up to 60 Mt/year of thermal coal from six open-cut pits and five underground mines.

Carmichael is the first mine in the Galilee Basin to gain approval. Another six are proposed in this area.

SSE has decided to close the remaining units of its Fiddler’s Ferry coal-fired power plant in Warrington, Cheshire (United Kingdom) by 31 March 2020. The power units, totalling around 1.5 GW, are currently idle and are the last remaining coal-fired units operated by SSE. …

The French government has selected 21 new onshore wind projects (150 wind turbines) totalling 516 MW in the third onshore wind tender. One third of the projects will be developed in the Hauts-de-France region in the north of the country, adding 215 MW of capacity, while 72 MW will be built in Grand Est and 61 MW in Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

Tunisia plans to receive final offers from 16 shortlisted candidates for a 500 MW solar tender in July 2019 and to select the winners by September 2019. Solar power generation from the winning projects could start within 12 to 18 months following the selection.

The Japanese nuclear regulator Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has approved new rules on back-up safety measures that could force some nuclear reactors having restarted operations to temporarily shut down again. In July 2013, the NRA approved new regulations in response to the Fukushima disaster, and required bunkered back-up control centres at nuclear power plants.

According to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), crude oil production in Canada is expected to increase by 1.27%/year until 2035. Production should increase by around 3%/year until 2021 before slowing down to +1%/year through 2035.

Pakistani energy group Engro Energy has submitted applications to the National Electric Power Authority (NEPRA) of Pakistan for the construction of four 50 MW solar PV projects along the Quetta-Chaman Highway in Balochistan (western Pakistan). The group would invest US$144m (US$36m per power plant) in the development of the projects, which could be commissioned as soon as June 2020.

The Energy Research Company (EPE) of Brazil has registered 1,829 power projects totalling 100,874 MW for the A-6 power auction that will be organised in mid-October 2019 for hydropower, wind, solar PV, biomass-fired, coal-fired and gas-fired power projects.